“I was a teenager and I had just accepted Jesus Christ; I was very excited. One day, God opened my eyes (maybe 3 or 5 seconds), I saw myself preaching to multitudes” – Pastor Sarah.
Born on 31st July 1962, to the family of Mr and Mrs. Jagaba in Kafanchan, Jema’a LGA, Kaduna State, she grew up in a village called Nassarawa in Kaduna State, Nigeria. She studied Sociology at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria and graduated in 1984.
The vision she had in her teenage years propelled her to become active in church activities including singing, travelling for evangelism and through divine intervention met her husband, Inalegwu Omakwu, who also graduated from Ahmadu Bello University in 1980 with a B.Sc in Microbiology.
“I remember that year, when Pastor Ina would go to preach and I would take handkerchiefs. In the middle, I would just slip a handkerchief to him and I would have perfumed it. One thing led to the other and he asked me to marry him.”
She attended Rhema Living Word Church, Barnawa, Kaduna; although founded in 1984 by Reverend Dr Samuel Kujiyat, was an offshoot of Good News Evangelistic Association where Pastor Ina was the President before he handed over to Revd Kujiyat in 1983 in order to proceed for his Master’s degree in Theology at Oral Roberts University, USA. Interestingly, Bishop (then Pastor) David Oyedepo, was invited to pray for her in Church when she was about to relocate to USA in 1985, where she got married to Pastor Ina Omakwu.
While in the US, she took a course in Cosmetology in 1987 and then proceeded to Regent University where she obtained a Master’s Degree in Counseling in 1992. Upon returning from USA, Pastors Ina and Sarah established Family Ministries International (FMI) in 1993 with a mission to do whatever Jesus did: in loving the unloved and providing a safe haven for people who needed more than just a Pastor. Family Worship Centre, the Church arm of the Ministry was the first to be started while The Family Royal Academy (educational arm) was commissioned in 2002.
When she passed through the waters of widowhood in February 2003, God strengthened her to keep and tend the flock left in her care by her husband (late) Pastor Ina Omakwu, although people had doubts about her leadership capacity.
In the aftermath of her husband’s home going, Pastor Sarah had to work through her doubts of moving forward with the Church, doubts that were also shared by Church members.
She recalls how she felt in her documentary, “it was amazing to see people you thought were for you or who loved you; all of a sudden, they were like foes, they were like, ‘we don’t think Pastor Sarah can do this, we think she will destroy the place’ “It was hellish. My take on that was that there was a grand plan in hell. They must have had their big shot board meeting and it was to just wipe this people out. That was the plan.”
Today, the Family Worship Centre has grown to a 13,000-member Church with members testifying of the significant role she has played in nurturing and stabilizing their faith in God. She is recognized widely as a charismatic, visionary leader whose lively teachings model the Agape love she practices through large scale support to widows, orphans, prisoners and internally displaced persons.
She uses her platform alongside her radio program, ‘Moving Forward with Sarah’ to inspire and motivate individuals to commit to living righteously. She is an advocate of godly relationships, strong families and a society where those who govern and the governed do right and be right.
She is blessed with two daughters Blessing and Favour; an adopted son Worthy.
The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day: indeed, this continues to be the testimony of Pastor Sarah Omakwu; a wife, a mother of nations, a Pastor, conference speaker and a Grandmother.
Sources: Oral Roberts University Spring 2004 Newsletter, Pastor Sarah Omakwu’s documentary, WAFBEC 2017 Page, Ina Omakwu Foundation’s Page.
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